THREE WAYS TO WEAR // COLD SHOULDER TOP

I've not forgotten about your responses to my reader survey; I'm currently working on a few ideas to implement some of your suggestions, but I don't want to leave you with radio silence while I'm doing this, so here is this weeks Three Ways to Wear.

This week I'm featuring this cold-shoulder top that I picked it up in Marks and Spencer when I was back home in July.  It's been sitting in my closet waiting for the temperatures to drop so I could wear it and, well, this weekend, drop they did!  Hurricane Matthew raged along the East coast 1.5 hours away from us, bringing cooler temperatures our way and the first rain we've seen for a while, so I took the opportunity to wear this on a night out with our first visitors in SC and couldn't resist featuring it in a 3 ways to wear.

There is a tendency to think that there's only a small window of opportunity to wear a top like this but I want to show you that it can dressed up and down, and can even be layered for cooler temperatures so you can easily wear it into the winter months.

TOP - UK / USA // JEANS - UK / USA // BOOTS (SIMILAR) - UK / USA

 I absolutely love the cut out detail at the shoulder and the soft ruffles, if you're a pear shape it's a great way to give your shoulders some definition to balance those hips.  This style will look great on a column and hourglass shaped ladies alike, but if you're apple shaped (sometimes refereed to as an inverted triangle) I'd recommend avoiding ruffles at the shoulder as this will emphasis your broad shoulders.  A style like this - UK  //  US  - will be far more flattering.

TOP - UK / USA // SKIRT - UK / USA // SHOES - UK / USA

A really simple way to change the look of this blouse is to leave the neck untied and layer a few necklaces over the top. I wanted to dress the blouse up a little so decided to team it with a leather skirt and heels, it looks great and I love the contrast between the soft fabric and ruffles with the leather.

TOP - UK / USA // POLO-NECK - UK / USA // JEANS - UK - USA

For the final outfit, I wanted to illustrate that it's possible to wear a top like this in cooler weather, by simply layering a thin polo-neck/turtle-neck underneath.  Lightweight long sleeve tops are essential for a hard working fall/winter closet and I recommend having a few in a variety of colors and necklines to make layering a breeze.   A little tip I've learned over the years is to match the colour of the layering top to the colour your wearing on the bottom half, as I have done here - it creates a column that's slimming and it ties the outfit together.  Think about your shape when you're choosing your layering tops, and try to opt for styles that flatter.   If you're not sure what shape you are then pop on over to this post to see which body-type best represents your shape and follow the relevant body-shape board on Pinterest for flattering outfit inspiration

THE DETAILS